Jack Frost, Santa’s elves and the treetop fairy – just a few of the images associated with fairies and Christmas. Winter faeries bring both magical enchantment and icy cold.
Fairy Christmas Traditions
Today, Christmas trees are often bedecked with Christmas angels and fairies. The Christmas tree topper was traditionally a star or angel, but can also be a fairy residing over the twinkling lights.
It is said that early Christmas trees had figures of fairies in place of angels. These represented good spirits, while horns and bells were once used to frighten away evil spirits.
Early Pagans considered evergreen trees deities, because they remained green throughout the year while other plants withered away. Tree spirits are still considered a form of elemental today. Scandinavian Pagans were the first to decorate the trees. Their belief was that bringing the tree indoors during the winter and decorating it would not only keep it warm, but also provide a cosy, soothing environment for the fairies.
Of course, Father Christmas is also famous for his fairies, with a host of elves assisting him in his workshop, crafting toys for children across the world. In fact, Santa is himself considered faerie, with his magical reindeer, ability to bend time and parents alleged to be of faerie origin.
The Snow Queen
One of the major faerie queens, the Snow Queen is both faerie and sky goddess. At Winter Solstice she rides through the snowy skies, making the snow fall by shaking the pillows on her icy chariot. Her company, known as the Wild Hunt, ride through the skies until Twelfth Night, creating snowstorms in their wake.
The Snow Queen was later demonised by Christianity, which turned her into a child-stealing hag. This version was portrayed in stories such as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.
Mother Goose
The demotion of the Snow Queen by Christians evolved from her ability to transform into a hag known as Frau Hölle, who rides the snow-filled skies on a white swan or goose. Also known as Mother Hölle, an old Pagan goddess, this faerie is associated with the darkest nights of winter, where she purified the lands riding the winter winds. Far from being a wicked hag, Mother Hölle brought auspicious harvests to the land. Originally associated with spinning, hearth and home, she would bring blessings to the newborn and the dying during winter, and fly the Winter Solstice skies carrying the harvest sickle, shaped like a crescent moon, with her celestial host.
She became associated with Mother Goose through the tales of the Brothers Grimm, and wrote that when she shook her goose feather quilt, snow would fly, leading to the proverb, “The old woman is feathering her geese,” when the snow falls.
Considered a black goddess, Hölle teaches that lives should be purged of unwanted beliefs or habits that no longer serve their purpose. Those who fail to listen to her advice will receive violent winter storms in their lives, removing the deadwood more forcefully.
Working with Winter Faeries
Christmas and Yule are perfect times to work with fairies. Winter Solstice marks the start of the new cycle of life and is a chance to ask the fairies for auspicious blessings and a little magic!
Milk and ginger cookies are a favourite of faeries, especially gnomes who enjoy them most on Yule eve. Use these as offerings to attract faeries into the home.
Find the faeries in snowflakes, frost, icicles and stormy skies, and harness the power of change that winter faeries bring, to enhance life in the coming year.
References:
Geddes-Ward, Alicen and Neil. Faeriecraft. Hay House UK, 2005
Knight, Sirona. Faery Magick. New Page Books, 2003
Louise Heyden - Louise Heyden is a writer, artist, work at home mum, sound technician and former school Library Manager.
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